Armidale local and world class composer Edward Cowie is gearing up for his first public appearance alongside world class musician Laura Chislett on the flute.
Together, they will give the Australian premiere of their astounding and hugely successful programme of improvisations inspired by Australian Birds and landscapes and paintings by Kandinsky, Rothko, Pollock and Heather Cowie.
Laura Chislett is one of Australia’s most distinguished and respected performers and with an outstanding international standing as a flautist with unique technical and interpretive talent.
She and Edward Cowie began as duo-improvisors in the early 1990s but only rejoined to record their first CD on Metier Divine Arts Label in the UK last year. Following its release, it has received rave notices worldwide.
Edward Cowie has frequently and increasingly been acclaimed as an ‘astonishing polymath’.
He holds doctorates in music and theoretical physics, has had more than 40 international one-man shows as a visual artist, conducted major symphony orchestras in Australia, the UK and Germany, and recorded as a pianist in Australia, the UK and USA.
His BBCTV 2 film on Leonardo da Vinci won the Prix Italia in 1986. He has also written and presented several major radio series for ABCFM and BBC Radio 3 and 4.
He was the first Granada Composer/Conductor in Residence with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra between 1983-86; the first conductor of The Australia Ensemble in 1986-88. He was created the first Composer in Association with The BBC Singers between 2003-6 and the first Artist in Residence with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, also between 2003-6.
He has been nominated for four BASCAS, and is the recipient of a Gulbenkian Award; Radcliffe International Composers’ Prize and a Chopin Fellowship. His music has been featured in major festivals in Europe, Australia, USA, Germany, Denmark and Japan including 4 BBC Promenade Concerts commissions. He is published by United Music Publishing (UMP) and since 2019 has been under exclusive signing my Metier Divine Arts label.
Catch the show at the Playhouse in Armidale on December 13.
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